Filling out paper forms

[Greg Lovern]

I've been tasked with automating the process of filling out paper
forms from a list in Excel. Of course that means converting the paper
forms to some software format, while making the printouts look as much
the same as possible.

It would be tedious to duplicate this particular paper form in an
Excel worksheet, and I'm not sure how close I could get to the
original appearance anyway. And then the result would be tedious to
update as the original paper form changed over time.

I would guess this is not an uncommon type of request for Excel
developers. What would be a better approach than duplicating the paper
form in an Excel worksheet?


Thanks,

Greg

 

[JLGWhiz]

Your choices are certainly limited. You either use printed forms to feed the
printer and build a print file that will put the data in the correct places,
or you build the form in Excel and fill in the blanks on the Excel form. My
choice would be to build the Excel form. It is time consuming the first go
round, but it is easy enough to modify thereafter. With the Excel form you
will know exactly where your data is to be entered and not have to be
concerned about printing on lines or overprinting other text. Done properly,
computer generated forms look as professional as those created in the
graphics department. But, it is only an opinion.

 

[Jim Cone]

You also might want to review the templates available from Microsoft...
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/default.aspx
At least, you might get some ideas.
--
Jim Cone
Portland, Oregon USA


"Greg Lovern"
<[email protected]>
wrote in message
I've been tasked with automating the process of filling out paper
forms from a list in Excel. Of course that means converting the paper
forms to some software format, while making the printouts look as much
the same as possible.

It would be tedious to duplicate this particular paper form in an
Excel worksheet, and I'm not sure how close I could get to the
original appearance anyway. And then the result would be tedious to
update as the original paper form changed over time.

I would guess this is not an uncommon type of request for Excel
developers. What would be a better approach than duplicating the paper
form in an Excel worksheet?
Thanks,
Greg

 

[JE McGimpsey]

A third choice would be to create the form in Word and use Mail Merge to
fill in the forms from the XL list.

And if the form is already available in Word format, it's rather easy to
insert the merge fields.

Again, somewhat time consuming for the first form, but given Excel's
rather limited formatting capabilities, mail merge can produce far
better looking documents than doing it all in XL.